Euro football roundup 14/4
Samuel Eto'o's two goals were not enough to give Barca the win they needed
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Monday, 14, Apr 2008 02:50
A comprehensive roundup of all the action from the top leagues in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands begins with news from southern Europe.
Barcelona's task in clawing back Real Madrid's advantage at the top of Spain's Primera Liga got a good deal harder this week.
The side from the capital now have a nine-point lead at the top with just six games remaining after a Wesley Sneijder goal on the hour gave them a 1-0 home win over Real Murcia.
Meanwhile, Barca could only draw 2-2 at struggling Recreativo, despite Samuel Eto'o twice putting his side ahead. However, Marco Ruben twice equalised for the hosts as they frustrated the Catalan giants.
Third-placed Villarreal also lost ground on Madrid as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat at seventh-placed UD Almeria, thanks to Wilmer Acasiete's 85th-minute strike.
The three big games in Italy this week resulted in much the same look for the Serie A table on Sunday evening.
Top side Inter Milan moved a step closer to the title with a 2-0 win over fourth-placed Fiorentina in what was billed as one of the toughest games remaining on their fixture list. Second-half goals from Esteban Cambiasso and Mario Balotelli secured the three points, which keeps them four clear of second-placed AS Roma.
The side from the capital had looked in trouble earlier in the day after falling behind to an Antonio di Natale goal away to European contenders Udinese. But an equaliser from Mirko Vucinic and further goals from Rodrigo Taddei and Ludovic Giuly earned Roma a vital win.
Juventus remain third after seeing off AC Milan in a thrilling 3-2 win. Alessandro del Piero opened the scoring for the home side before a Filippo Inzaghi double put Milan ahead.
However, Hasan Salihamidzic levelled for the hosts on the stroke of halftime before his second of the match ten minutes from the end earned all three points for Juve.
The top two sides in the Bundesliga earned big wins over the weekend to cement their places in the Champions League spots in Germany.
However, one of the matches represented a team coming down from a European high with a big bump as Schalke 04 - the last German representative in the Champions League this season, who gave Barcelona a run for their money at the Nou Camp in midweek - crashed to a 5-1 defeat at Werder Bremen. Ivan Klasnic got two with further goals from Boubacar Sanogo, Markus Rosenberg and Frank Baumann to heap more misery on Schalke, whose European dreams were ended in Spain just three days earlier.
The result means Schalke dropped behind Bremen into third, while Leverkusen beat VfB Stuttgart 3-0 to consolidate fourth position as fifth-placed Hamburger SV suffered a surprise home defeat to third-from-bottom MSV Duisburg.
The race for the Ligue 1 title in France may still go down to the wire. Leaders Lyon dropped points for the second successive week as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Rennes. Cris had put the home side ahead and looked to have won the game with his 16th-minute goal. However, Rennes' Stephane M'Bia grabbed a late equaliser in injury time for the visitors to allow Bordeaux to close up on the top side.
Their 2-1 win over Caen, courtesy of a Fernando Cavenaghi double, moved them to within four points of Lyon with five games to play.
And finally in the Eredivisie, leaders PSV Eindhoven extended their advantage at the top of the table to six points after a 1-1 draw with fourth-placed FC Twente. But Ajax - in second - will view that result as a positive one from their point of view as it gives the Amsterdam giants the chance to close to within three if they can win their game in hand against FC Groningen.
With Ajax's inactivity, NAC moved level on points with their rivals after a 1-0 win at Heracles thanks to Edwin de Graaf's second-half strike.
Meanwhile sixth-placed Feyenoord lost further ground in their pursuit of European football next season as they slumped to a 3-1 defeat to struggling Willem II on Sunday, thanks in the main to Frank Demouge's double strike in the first half.